The insurance industry is probably not the first industry you think of when it comes to rapid adoption of technology. However, few market sectors are quite as ripe for technology-driven disruption. Despite its risk-averse reputation, the industry is seeing an influx of new competitors, all vying for a piece of the trillion-dollar insurance pie.
In personal auto insurance, a growing number of insurtech newcomers like Lemonade, which acquired Metromile, are using in-vehicle telematics, among other digital-native capabilities, to lower premiums and improve customer experiences, putting new pressure on incumbents.
In addition to startups, Amazon has made a number of aggressive moves into the insurance category in recent years, hoping to replicate the same frictionless insurance policy buying experience as they’ve done in the e-commerce, pharmaceutical, and health insurance industries.
Ultimately, today’s digital-centric consumer demands choice and simplicity. But bringing digital innovation to market remains a time-consuming and costly endeavor for even the largest and best-resourced players in the insurance ecosystem. For this reason, the emergence of fast and inexpensive low-code and no-code platforms has become an increasingly attractive option as insurers plan new digital-first CX strategies.
Old problems, new challenges for insurers
The pandemic has made one thing clear: companies without a clearly defined digital roadmap have lost market share, while those that have been able to meet their customers where they work and live have thrived.
But as many CIOs in the insurance market have recognized, the path to digital transformation can be rocky. Perhaps the most notable obstacle to their digital transformation ambitions is the software talent gap, where demand for skilled developers outstrips supply. As a result, CIOs tend to reserve their scarce engineering resources for business continuity and the most mission-critical development activities.
With established insurance providers, it’s also common to find legacy systems that have been cobbled together and patched together over the course of several decades. CIOs looking to modernize know they must proceed with caution due to the size, complexity and inflexibility of these legacy systems.
The exponential growth of data in the insurance industry has also created new opportunities and headaches. This data provides valuable insights into customers, markets and trends. However, the struggle to manage, share and integrate vast amounts of disparate data – and to do so in ways that do not go against government regulators – has stymied many transformation projects before they could even get off the ground.
Low-code and no-code platforms allow non-technical users to build applications quickly without having to understand and write code. Even non-technical users can build and operate applications with intuitive point-and-click tools.
The growing appeal of low-code lies in its ability to democratize application development outside of technical roles and empower the person closest to the problem to solve the problem themselves. As ranger Notes: The demand for ever faster automation requires more minds and hands in building applications. In the meantime gardener predicts that by 2024, 65% of all app development will take place on low-code platforms.
Low-code platforms can also drastically reduce the time it takes to collect customer feedback and incorporate it back into the product roadmap — crucial in a market where switching costs for consumers are lower than ever is.
We are seeing a growing number of insurance providers using low-code platforms to build unique solutions to further their digital transformation goals. These three examples show how companies across the insurance spectrum are putting the power of software creation in the hands of their employees to increase efficiency and enhance the customer experience.
- Highly customizable applications for partner ecosystems. For example, Roost, a provider of home telematics solutions for property insurance carriers and claims organizations, ships the products directly to property owners. The technology delivers real-time sensor data that enables insurance providers to more accurately price their policies while improving the user experience for their customers. Due to the B2B2C model, Roost serves as a central hub for all information moving in this ecosystem of consumers, IoT devices and insurance partners. Rather than developing custom applications for each affiliate program, Roost uses low-code to create custom branded applications for its insurance partners that are easily customized to each partner’s unique needs.
- Real-time process automation and approval workflows. Allison & Thompson Insurance is a private insurance brokerage company based in Texas. Without the luxury of a dedicated IT department or the budget to hire expensive software consultants, they turned to low-code to create custom reports, business rules, and automated workflows to power their approval processes and increase broker productivity.
- Industry oriented insurance websites and portals. A top 5 global insurance broker uses low-code to create and launch a variety of web properties tailored to different industry segments. For example, the digital experience for the accounting industry includes specific policies and customer onboarding processes compared to web properties dedicated to industrial professions such as construction. The industry portals were all built with low-code applications based on a company template and then customized for each industry segment.
To stay relevant in an increasingly fragmented and competitive industry, insurers have no choice but to adapt to changing times. We’re now seeing a shift, with insurers across the spectrum adopting tools like low-code platforms to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives – putting the power of software development in the hands of non-technical business users. By democratizing the software creation process, insurance providers can keep pace with the innovation their customers demand.
